On the one hand, a journey through endless sands can be sweet and romantic. During the day, dune reliefs become the best natural landscapes for photo and video shooting. And at night, the sky is so starry that you suddenly begin to make your most secret wishes. On the other hand, the desert can be eerie and frightening as there are hundreds of kilometers of emptiness and silence. What's ahead? - Uncertainty.

For hundreds of years, deserts have astounded travelers with mirages. And only in the Chilean Atacama Desert, located in the vicinity of the city of Antofagasta, the mirage became a reality.

On a desolate area of 105 thousand square kilometers, NASA space researchers tested their rovers, Hollywood Directors shot bestsellers, and the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal installed one of his immortal creations. Residents of Antofagasta asked the sculptor to perpetuate their endless desert and to create its own attraction. So the monumental sculpture "Hand of the Desert" appeared there in 1992. The 11-meter long left hand of a man, made of concrete on a steel frame, is the most desirable tourist attraction, landmark, and way to escape the scorching sun for lost and tired travelers.

The original sculpture resembles the hand of a giant drowned in quicksand. It makes you think about how powerless a person is. Some people believe that the sculptor wanted to show the importance of obeying the laws of nature without resisting them. Others claim that the hand is a symbol of the will and struggle of man even in the most desperate situation. The author himself somehow mentioned that his work is the embodiment of loneliness and suffering of a person whom no one notices.

Since its grand opening, the monument has become a desirable canvas for graffiti artists, whose works of art are regularly cleaned by local volunteers.